The Weirdest Left Winger in the VHL

[SlapshotWrangler 858]

The Daisuke Kanou Trophy winners were Ryuu Crimson and Norris Stopko. Ryuu was a phenomenal Left Winger during the playoffs and was arguably the best Left Winger rookie. He has been Left Winger his whole Victory Hockey League and Victory Hockey League Minors career. Only problem? The Left Winger is a righty. "Yeah, if you noticed my curve, you noticed my stick is a righty stick. It's kinda weird. People always ask me why. I don't know man, I guess I like my stick blade away from the boards, plus, from the left, my blade is closer to the goal than if I used a lefty stick. Don't really have a real reason.

 

Very weird. Yet this winger has found a lot of success scoring goals with it. He scored 6 goals in the playoffs and got 22 goals in the regular season. "I typically don't try to score goals from up close. I try to get my forehand to face the net and just aim from far. But sometimes I get those up close goals. Honestly, I just try to shoot and pray that one of my shots go in."

 

We asked him if he has every tried being a right winger. "Oh yeah, back in the Minors. I remember we were having trouble during the Finals, and I was placed on the Right Wing for the while. I didn't have a good time with it. Gave away the puck a lot and found it harder to handle with the boards in the way. Plus, my shots were going wide and all kinds of stuff was happening. I also tried it one time with Swift Current, and same thing happened."

Another interesting thing to note is his choice of stick. His stick is a True North wooden stick. Yup, he doesn't use the modern composite sticks. "Honestly, I prefer wooden sticks over composite sticks. They feel more comfortable to me. I can stickhandle better with them I aim better with them. Like, I can use composite sticks, for one instance, my old wooden stick company went bankrupt, so I had to use some CCM sticks, and I still got 15 goals in the last 30 games but I score more with wooden sticks."

 

He is one of the only players to still use a wooden stick. But damn is he good with it. His puck handling is amazing and his passes are always on target. We know you can't give all of the credit to the gear, Ryuu is still awesome with modern gear, but dang is it a factor.

"Yeah, I'm lucky that True North was willing to make a bunch of wooden sticks just for me. I might consider using more modern gear a few times this season, but don't expect me to not have my trusty wooden sticks near me at all times. Also, no, I am never gonna try being a Right Winger, it's not meant to be."

 

Whatever stick he uses or position he's in, Riga still loves Ryuu. 

 

Go Riga Go!

[diamond_ace 3,107]

I'd argue that a left winger who has almost exclusively played center throughout the entire career including even the brand contest, might be a little weirder than a left winger who shoots right.

[Victor 10,844]

Clearly the weirdest left winger if Leph Twinger.

[Quik 4,113]

8 minutes ago, Victor said:

Clearly the weirdest left winger if Leph Twinger.

That's who I thought it was, based off the title lol